12/25/13

I feel like I have good ideas - maybe not genius, but something! It's hard to grasp that intuition that spark that /something/ and follow it through to the real gem - the game that lives behind the sudden interaction, behind the impression I want to give.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdlkFmDyoxA

How do I make a game that tells people how this game makes me feel?

This song makes me embrace life. Everything falls apart - so why cry about it?

The chaos you're fighting is life. So stop fighting it!

But it doesn't say that, it makes me FEEL that, and the feeling comes into my mind in the form of these words. The connections are THERE - the simple strong truths that made me post this. But EXPRESSING them, in words let alone GAME is just...hard.

HACK LIFE.

So I'll try screaming into the abyss.

So we need an 'everything'. A 'Chaos'. Cause that's the thought right? 'Stop fighting'

Or should I take a different tack? Not personification, but systemification - the chaos is the system. Something delicate. Something you're always on the edge of /almost/ failing

Okay, so how about this. You can place platforms. Platforms fall after random (longish) time intervals, collapsing on themselves. Platforms collect something you want - say rain.

Okay wait, game where the platforms are shifting color blocks, more platforms means more score, when the colors start matching the platforms start fading. land on platform to randomize colors. PLatforms form 'links' when you have enough, links are random, you can teleport along them, and if one platform in a link falls they ALL FALL. Platforms will always fall - jumping on them just nets you more time (which means more links...)

12/11/13

I'm going to be submitting something for ZZTV 11. It's a compilation of ZZT games, ZZT being the game-platform-thing Epic Megagames did before Unreal. So far, I've found it to be a really awesome experience. I've played through Syndromes, and found it to be a FASCINATING thing - a tutorial on ZZT game design, in ZZT! It's also awesome digging through the various toolkits, thinking about all the care and time people put into making them.

Before I start thinking about what kind of game I want to make, I'm going to dive into some the recommendations from funk's guide. I really want to see what the ZZT can do in the hands of experts!

11/26/13

My name is Adam David Burch, and I make games.

I make games because I know that
1) I've been playing games my whole life.
2) my knowledge of games is pathetic,
and lastly,
3) my games are awesome, and worth making.

I'VE BEEN PLAYING GAMES MY WHOLE LIFE

Anywhere there is shit to do, and shit that can be done about it, there is a game.

By this logic, damn near everything's a game!

The to-clever computer scientist in me couldn't help but agree that damn near everything IS-A game.

And when everything's a game, how can I stop playing?

I went to high school.

Get good grades - Shit to do

Schoolwork - Shit that can be done about it

My friends and I used to eat Corn Nuts(tm) after throwing them into the air.

Eat, Show off - Shit to do

Throwing Corn Nuts(tm), eating, diving, tackling, etc. - Shit that can be done about it

When on tile floors, I would impose rules limiting my movement (stay on like squares, chess-piece movement only, etc)

Desire to play - Shit to do

Movement - Shit that can be done about it

Meditation

Meditate - Shit to do

Meditate - Shit that can be done about it

MY KNOWLEDGE OF GAMES IS PATHETIC

Let's look at my edge cases (the first and latter ones, respectively).

I went to high school.

Get good grades - Shit to do

Schoolwork - Shit that can be done about it

Isn't school supposed to be about...learning? Why has the signifier (grades) taken over for the signified (learnins)?

Meditation

Meditation - Shit to do

Meditate - Shit that can be done about it

It is only by abandoning our conception of meditation as a game that we can meditate.

Each of these things IS-A game. However, they're also NOT GAME.
Everything that's NOT GAME IS-A game.
It's just not supposed to be played.
Playing something that's NOT GAME as a game can seem smart, but it's most likely stupid.
The thing is simply NOT GAME.

We now know the set of all things that are NOT GAME - Everything that IS-A game, but IS NOT meant to be played.
We now know the set of all things that are GAME - Everything that IS-A game, and IS meant to be played.

But the question is, what do /I/ know about this set?

Not a damn thing.

MY GAMES ARE AWESOME, AND WORTH MAKING

This is a tautology. All games are awesome (exploring the possibility space for a game is THE BEST, and CREATING THAT POSSIBILITY SPACE IS THE DOUBLE BEST OMG), and if I want to do something, then it's worth doing.